How Tivo Is Making Films Suck More

8042008

I had an interesting experience this past Saturday as I was watching Martin Scorsese’s unfortunately tedious Rolling Stones film, SHINE A LIGHT.

At one point, as the film was heading into yet another song of Mick Jagger energetically strutting across the apron of the stage (the man has an awesome physique for someone his age, but I was completely over the Stones about 25 years ago), I arrived at the time when I would attempt to look at my watch to see if the film was really in its fifteenth hour.

However, instead of that, I got focussed on the editing — as I am wont to do when something is boring me to tears (I’ve done that innumerable times during HBO’s JOHN ADAMS, a show I am completely ready to stop watching for the rest of my life). I began to look for the moments when cuts worked and when they didn’t. And, as I am also wont to do when I’m watching a tedious film on my DVR (not a Tivo actually, since I have the version that the Dish Network allegedly stole from them), I reached for the DVR remote so I could rewind the film by a few seconds to re-look at the cut.

Let me repeat that — I went to reach for my remote. In the Cinerama Dome Theatre in the middle of Hollywood. Now, the Dome theater has a lot of cool amenities in it, ever since the Arclight took it over. I can reserve my seats. I can lean back and put my drink in a nifty cup holder at the side. I can even sit back and listen to the desperately amusing ushers, who give a standup-style patter before the film runs.

But what I cannot do is to stop the film and go back three seconds using a Tivo-like remote.

My point is this. I realized then that I am now beginning to look at media differently. I assume that I have control over how I watch it. I assume that I can rewind, fast forward and pause my media.

And if I’m doing that, I can only assume that others have that desire also. Does that mean that movie theaters are at a disadvantage over the television/DVR experience? And what does that mean for us as filmmakers?

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5 responses

I watch a lot of DVDs on my computer (bigger screen than my little TV), and now I don’t like watching movies on my TV because the remote is less wieldly than my computer tablet. So, I like control.

However, if I’m not bored with the movie, I am happy to just let it run. While watching “300” in the theater, I was happy letting it rock before me. So, I think the question is: Is what we are watching an experience for us (“300”), or an activity for us (a boring flick or something we’re studying)? That’s my thought at the moment.

I had a dream once that in the middle of a movie…in the theatre…I grabbed the remote and hit PAUSE as I ran off to the bathroom. There were shouts of protest in the theater so I went to hit PLAY, only I hit FAST FORWARD instead…because it was dark. Then I frantically looked for the rewind button, pressed it, rewound back to just before I hit pause, and then hit play. People were GLARING at me.

This was based on my experiences with VCRs…I had this dream in the early nineties, before DVD…and WELL before DVRs…came out. So it isn’t only DVRs, it is the medium in general.

And I will find myself wanting to grab the remote if I miss a line, or yes, if I want to see a sequence of shots again.

RUIN? No. Although you are out of the movie “moment” the instant you hit REWIND. I used to watch movies twice if I liked them…once to enjoy, and once to study. Now I just rewind…oh. So yeah, I guess that is ruining it.

About Norman Hollyn

Norman Hollyn has been described as a “media expert,” a reference to his experience in a wide variety of media types – in both the old and new media worlds.

He is a long-time film, television and music editor (HEATHERS, THE COTTON CLUB, SOPHIE’S CHOICE, Oliver Stone’s WILD PALMS), and is Associate Professor and Head of the Editing Track at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He is an author of nearly 100 articles and his book, THE FILM EDITING ROOM HANDBOOK, has been internationally translated. His new book, THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT, comes out from Peachpit Press/Pearson in December.

He has taught worldwide, including several workshops for the Royal Film Commission in Jordan. He has taught at the Sundance Film Festival, and consults and speaks at major corporations such as Dreamworks Pictures and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has worked as an expert witness in legal cases involving the aesthetics or history of editing, and is partner in an Internet development firm. He presently editing and co-directing a documentary about architecture called OFF THE GRID and editing an international long-distance collaborative documentary called RIVERS.